Being The Person I Am
by Annabeth Patelle
Summary: Tony/Gibbs. Gibbs and Tony alone in a car in a snowstorm with the doors frozen shut.
1. Chapter 1

Tony was shuffling around with something under his desk, making a lot of unnecessary noise. Gibbs apparently noticed this, for he barked "DiNozzo!". It produced the desired effect, for the younger agent quickly sat upright in his desk and apologetically said "Yeah, Boss? Sorry, Boss. Won't happen again, Boss." Gibbs fixed him with a glare that so obviously said "It better not" that it was kind of freaky. "Grab your gear. There's a guy up in New York that says he's got something urgent." Tony's face brightened considerably. "Do we get to take the company plane, Boss?" That earned him a Gibbs-slap, as well as a "No, DiNozzo, we don't. Blame the budget cuts. You're with me, Ziva, you and McGee take his car. McGee, as your Christmas present, you're driving." Ziva groaned while McGee's sullen pout turned into a huge grin. "Thanks, Boss." Tony and Gibbs piled into the older agent's car, settling in for the three-hour-long drive.

Of course, DiNozzo kept chattering, trying to get Gibbs's attention to himself. He actually once resorted to asking to play Would You Rather. That idea was, of course, shut down at once. You couldn't blame a man for trying, though. Especially a man like DiNozzo, who would continue trying even if you blamed him. Gibbs was trying not to give DiNozzo any attention, instead sending him pointed glares, but it apparently didn't work, for Tony's chattering only got louder and more frequent. Finally, Gibbs braked, gave Tony a solid head-slap for the second or third time that day (it was getting hard to keep track of all of them) and turned to face the younger agent, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Tony, I'm beginning to think that maybe all this isn't exactly innocent." His piercingly blue eyes drilled through Tony's head and quite possibly would have found their answer there had Tony not gotten so good at lying. "Why'd you think that, Boss? Just because I'm so handsome doesn't mean I want to jump nearly every guy I see. 'Correlation does not always imply causation', mind you." Or maybe he hadn't gotten better at lying after all. Gibbs raised his hand to hit the young man again, but changed his mind at the last second, opting for petting Tony's head instead. The man let out a shocked squeak, causing Gibbs to crack a grin. He turned back to the wheel, starting up the car...

Except that the engine wouldn't turn over. And it had started snowing. Very badly. The only good part was that there was a cabin a couple of miles up the road. And then the bad news started again. The doors had managed to, in that little time, become frozen in place, and no matter how much they pushed, Gibbs and DiNozzo simply could not open them. Tony shivered from the cold, a small movement that Gibbs caught anyways, being Gibbs. He shrugged his coat off his shoulders and threw it over Tony, pulling the agent close and wrapping his arms around him. Tony welcomed the embrace, although he would likely never admit it, being the person he was. He shifted closer to Gibbs and rested his head in the crook of the older man's neck. Gibbs chuckled, closing his eyes as he breathed in the luscious scent of pure... DiNozzo. The young man quickly fell into a deep slumber, grumbling contentedly under his breath and curling up in Gibbs's lap. Gibbs pressed his lips quickly down to Tony's forehead, smiling at the young man. "You know what, Tony?" he said to dead air, "I think my feelings aren't entirely innocent, either."


	2. Chapter 2

As Tony awoke the next morning, he looked around, trying to get a sense of his whereabouts. He was surrounded by something warm and vaguely firm. Tilting his head up, Tony jumped as he realised that warm, firm object was none other than his boss. Trying to get as much distance as possible between them without hurting anyone, Tony backed up against the passenger door, shivering from the sudden cold. Gibbs slowly awoke, looking at a frightened, ashamed Tony, who immediately started apologizing.

"Boss, I'm so sorry, I mean, it won't happen again, I promise, I was just trying to – it was cold –" Gibbs cut him off, calmly leaning forward and kissing the younger man's temple. A flabbergasted Tony stared back at him, eyes wide with shock as he tried to process what had just happened. Gibbs, on the other hand, started to look for a way out of the snowed-in car.

"When you're done looking at me like I just invented fire, you might want to help with getting this door open. Just our luck the car stalled in the middle of snow season." The two men positioned themselves at the door, pushing out with all of their might. The door gave a promising creak, then didn't budge.

Tony, thinking back to his university days, quickly thought of a better solution. "Boss, I think the door was sealed shut when the moisture froze during the night. We're not getting out through the door – not that one, not any of them. But if we break the windshield, we can shimmy through without too much trouble."

Quickly moving to adopt the plan, Gibbs opened up a drawer by Tony's seat and took out a sledgehammer. Tony wasn't entirely positive it was _legal_, but it would do the trick. Gibbs instructed Tony to duck down while he swung the sledgehammer with all his might against the windshield. With a gigantic 'CRACK', the glass split open, shattering and inviting in a whole load of glass-laden snow.

"Okay, maybe not the _best_ plan," Tony was quick to admit. Either way, he quickly crawled through the gaping whole and reached down to help Gibbs up, upon which he noticed that Gibbs had a massive gash in his thigh from the glass, a fact which he was trying desperately, and unsuccessfully, to hide.

"Boss..." Tony whispered. Leaning in to the car, he managed to wrap his arms around his partner, helping him up and out of the car, then restraining the man in his lap so he wouldn't further hurt himself. He wholly ignored Gibbs's vicious death glare as he treated the wound, tearing off a strip of his shirt to wrap it as a bandage around the wound, thinking it was too cold to just take Gibbs's pants off. And also fearing the wrath he knew would come if he tried.

Just as he was finishing wrapping the cut up, Tony sensed someone come up behind them. Turning around slowly, he was blinded by a bright light coming from the woods a couple dozen yards away.


End file.
